Blind Eyes
by vox ad umbram sum
Summary: A Strigoi attack when Rose was young changes Rose's entire destiny.  Rose is blinded and is forced to adapt to overcome her handicap. Will go through the events of the Vampire Academy novel.
1. Chapter 1

****** This story came to me in a really weird dream. Here is the Vampire Academy Fanfiction version of it. ******

Blind Eyes

The Beginning.

I remember this day. I was only two at the time, but this one memory will never fade. I was still with my mother then, my father gone, as was typical with dhampir families. We were living in housing in the royal court, as I learned latter. The sky that night was an expanse of dark blue velvet dotted with white stars. The moon, full and round, was perfectly white with gray imperfections. The grass was green, the stones of the court beautiful grays and whites, the trees proudly and arrogantly showing off their autumn colors. I am glad the night was like this. The beautiful night shattered as angry yells filled the air. A blur moved towards me and resolved in a woman wearing a white and red dress, her hands blurred, and then nothing.

That was it. That is the whole memory of the last time I saw anything.

That night long ago, a secretly formed cult of Moroi and dhampir numbering a full dozen had slaughtered 8 feeders and turned themselves Strigoi. In the Royal Court, the reaction was swift. It took less than a half an hour for all the Strigoi were killed. The death toll had reached 32 men and women, mostly Moroi, the wounded were uncounted, there were just so many and the small medical unit had difficulty keeping up with the life threatening injuries. This event had set the whole of the vampire world on edge. Nobody had any idea about what to do.

The two year old with damaged eyes was quickly forgotten in the chaos of the upturned world.

I was one of the lucky ones. Blindness was just a handicap; it was able to be overcome, and not unusual. There were already supports in place ready to help me learn, to help me survive. Being young, I adapted quickly. My vision, the sense that was the most relied on for normal people, was gone. My already supernatural sense of hearing and smell became more perceptive to take its place. I may not be like a bat using echolocation to see but I am able to pinpoint sounds and but people often think it works like that. I could use every and any little noise to create a map of my surroundings, breathing, footsteps, the wind against different surfaces. Smells showed me identifiers and trails, the particular aftershave lingering in the air belonged to one of the guardians who regularly walked the border and stood in the classrooms, Guardian Yuri.

I am Rosemarie Hathaway and I am blind but not helpless.

~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~ ~VA~

I was sitting in a classroom listening to my Biology teacher, Ms. Meissner, lecture about the desert biome. It was interesting that coyotes would behave like they do but I was bored and listening to the slightly screechy chalk write or draw on a chalkboard that I couldn't see wasn't doing it for me. I stopped focusing on the monotone that was our teacher and allowed the whispers of the schools gossip to fall into my ears. The whispers of the other bored students were not quite as interesting as I had hoped.

"Hey, did you hear that Jenny hooked up with the Ivashkov boy when she was visiting her parents in the Royal Court over the weekend?"

"Adrian Ivashkov?"

"Yeah, I heard that she was drunk and ended up sleeping with him."

"So? I would totally sleep with him, he's like super hot."

"Yeah but he's like twenty-one and like a total drunk."

"And rich, his aunt's like the Queen."

"Really? I thought-"

Nope, spoiled Royals partying was not quite as interesting as it had been. Maybe two boys this time.

"Dude, Eddie and Jake are going to fight later" Ralf Sarcozy, I would recognize that irritating voice anywhere.

"Really? I thought that they were tight?" The voice with smooth tones and a slightly whiny undercurrent belonged to Jesse Zeklos.

"Yeah but Jake was hitting on Eddie's girl and Mia told Eddie. Jake lied to Eddie about it when Eddie talked to him," Ralf was getting excited, his heart rate had increased and his voice shot up an octave.

"Damn. And now they're going at it?"

"Yeah, in the old gym after dinner."

The fight would be interesting to check out, Eddie wasn't the biggest or the strongest, but he was fast, much faster than most of the other novices. Jake was one of the biggest and the strongest, he could take hits like a tank. It would be a cool fight to watch, real shame I couldn't.

The class bell rang. It was a mechanical buzzing song that briefly over powered the other sounds around me. For just the moment I was helpless. The first time I had experienced this I had had a panic attack. It took a while before I was able to ignore the feeling for the moment but it was always uncomfortable and I never grew used to it. The bell stopped. It had lasted a second and a half. I hated that second and a half that came after every period.

I let out the breath that I had involuntarily drawn in and shook my head to clear the buzzing. I got up, grabbing my book bag, and walked to Pre-Calculus. The uneven stones of the hallways had been worn down by countless feet walking from class room to class room. Each stone was unique and each let me know exactly where I was. A quick sniff of the air revealed that the chemistry class was working with hydrochloric acid and ammonia, the cafeteria was cooking up lasagna and a seafood bisque. The usual stench of various perfumes and deodorants filled the air, seeping into the stones of the walls.

In Math, I sat next to Lissa, My best friend, and we whispered about all the gossip that we had heard.

"Really, Jenny did that?" Lissa spoke in that musical voice reserved for angels and cinema royalty. She was taller than me, about six feet tall, and was soft and slender like runway models are supposed to be. She was one of the nicest people I have ever met.

Christian Ozera, her boyfriend, was sittng on the other side of her, a more different person on the outside I can't imagine. Christian was prickly and sarcastic with a sharp voice, like a blade. It only softened near Lissa hearing, unless she needed a sharp kick of reality.

"Why are you surprised? She slept with all the royal boys here." Christian was blunt as usual. "I think some of the girls too."

I had to. The little devil was whispering naughty things in my ear and I couldn't help but listen. "Christian, aren't you a royal boy?"

"Yeah, wh-"

"Christian Ozera!"

" –wait… what!"

I started to laugh, quietly to avoid notice from the teacher. Lissa was getting reassured by Christian, one of my friends was getting in a fight, and I was getting a chuckle out of Christian's misery.

It was a good day.


	2. Chapter 2

**** Here is the second chapter. Enjoy!****

Blind Eyes: Explaining color to Rose.

I woke up to my alarm clock beeping a soft wake up. As I sat up, I pushed the soft, thin blanket off of me and down to the foot of the bed. I stood up and walked to the closet that was seven steps away. I pulled out the shirt and he jeans that were hanging up on the far left of the closet. I pulled them on over the first matching set of underwear I could find in my small dresser. The shirt was a light tank top and the jeans were tight on my legs. A quick feel of the air outside led me to grab the oversized cotton hoodie that was sitting in a second drawer in the dresser. Grabbing my sunglasses and my mother's Nazari, I walked out the door. Then I walked back in and grabbed the fiberglass cane, a thin, four foot long pole with a wooden handle, that was next to the door. Ready to go.

I walked into the commons where all the Upper school students were eating breakfast. From the smells in the air, the cafeteria was serving waffles and various fruits. Whipcream, warm maple syrup, delicious.

"Hey," Lissa walked up to me from my left, "We're sitting over this way."

I followed the soft padding of her soft bottomed shoes against the stone floor. Lissa lead me to a table where Mason, Eddie, Christian, Natalie and Natalie's (not so bright) friends were sitting. Wfter saying a quick "hello" to the group and marking the location of the table in my head, I walked to the breakfast line, my cane tapping the floor in front of me, searching for purses and book bags that I wanted to avoid. After a quick shuffle through to line I returned to the table with a loaded tray.

When I got there, Lissa tapped the empty seat next to her and I sat down. As I placed the plastic fork and knife on the side of my tray and opened the milk carton, Mason made a comment that came every now and then.

"Damn, Rose, you sure that your blind?"

"Mason!" Lissa chided, "be nice."

"I was just amazed that Rose is able to function as well as we do. That's all."

"Better," Eddie added.

"What?"

"Rose functions better than we do sometimes." At that I reached across the table and smacked Eddie on the back of the head. "Ouch! Rose!" Eddie rubbed his head theatrically. "I was just saying that you seem to know everything that happens around you. It's kind of scary."

"You just hate that the blind girl 'sees' more than you seeing folk do." I spoke around a mouthful of waffle.

"Especially when you beat us at chess," Christian added, "or greet us by name when your backs turned and we haven't said anything."

"Or when you give people high-fives."

"how about-"

"Hey! We don't need to spend the entire time telling me how awesome I am." I put down my utensils and took a sip of the milk. "Why don't we listen to Eddie tell us about his fight with Jake."

"How'd you… never mind. " Eddie sighed. "It was nothing."

"Come on. You have to tell us more than that." Mason pleaded

"We just traded a few hits before I got him into a hold and put him on the ground." Eddie shook his head. "It's not like I wanted to get in a fight with Jake"

"Mia know about the fight?"

"No. She doesn't like it when I get into fights."

"Speaking of the doll, where is Mia?" Mason asked.

"She isn't feeling to good and went to the infirmary to get a pass from classes."

"Maybe I'll hang with her while the rest of you are off doing cool stuff."

Lissa shook her head, "elemental basic is not cool."

"You have magic, that is cool, and the novices get to beat each other up, that is cool. I'm not allowed to do any of that"

"But-" Lissa began but didn't continue.

The bell rang and I lost all sense of location for a moment. When it was over I got up, grabbing my tray and my cane and left, dumping my tray off. I moved through the hallways back to my room and picked up my canvas backpack from the side of my desk. I ran my fingers over the zipper and located the slider. I pulled the metal piece across the zipper and opened the bag. Inside were a few books, a quick feel revealed that it contained all my afternoon books, the gear for Moroi culture, Pre-calculus, Animal behavior, etc. I set the backpack on the desk and walked to the large plastic case that leaned on the wall across from my closet. I ran my finger around the edge feeling the smooth curves and the metal edging. I grabbed the handle and hefted the case. I walked out making sure that I adjusted for the case's size.

I stopped over at Mia's dorm and saw that she was fine, just a little tired and queasy. She wanted to sleep so I let her. I left and headed to the academic building. Inside the building, the initial corridor led into a maze of hallways and classrooms. Deep into the building was a room that leaked the sound of piano and the smell of wood. I opened the door. Inside the door, the smell of irises wafted from an old grand piano that was producing a slow classical piece that somehow contained a rapid succession of notes. Ms. Manuel, the school music teacher, the woman in charge of every course that involved music. She was a Moroi with calloused strong hands and a voice that was far too earthy and sensual to be mistaken for any angel. Ms. Manuel, when not playing or singing, was in constant motion, pacing and foot-tapping.

She paused for a millisecond when I walked in, just a fraction of a second but I heard it. I carried the case to a chair near the piano and opened it. Inside was my cello. A beautifully crafted instrument that was able to produce a whole range of sounds. I loved it.

I sat down and lifted the cello out of its case and ran a finger down the neck. A quick bowing of the strings revealed that the tuning had slipped and needed a little tightening. I quickly corrected it and began a relatively simple piece to start, then progressed to some Bach. For the next hour or so I mimicked the playing of the piano on the cello, memorizing each tune as it was played over and over. It was boring and repetitive. I loved it.

I was creating music.


	3. Chapter 3

Here is the third chapter as you requested. The following conversation was witnessed in a Mcdonalds.

VAVAVAVAVAVA

I had taken a break from playing and me and Ms. Manuel were in the middle of a debate. Voldemort vs. Darth Vader. Baddest villain of all time. I was on the Darth Vader side, Ms. Manuel was losing to my logic and oratory skills

"Voldemort's mortal enemy is a child. And Voldemort lost to that child"

"Harry Potter is a teenager and he gets help from everyone he meets."

"Voldemort wasn't able to kill a newborn baby, he was the worst dark wizard ever."

"Darth Vader couldn't beat the emperor and he was an old man."

"An old man who happened to be a master of the force."

"Harry Potter had magic."

"Harry Potter was a school kid." I believe that Ms. Manuel crossed her arms. "Darth Vader was able to kill an entire planet. Voldemort couldn't kill a castle full of untrained children."

"Ms. Manuel was stubborn but I was gaining ground. The debate was over when I pointed out that Darth Vader had a sound track as well as the most famous voice in villain history. Voldemort didn't stand a chance. Though, Ms. Manuel made a pretty convincing argument at the last minute. I had placed my feet up on her desk in a display of my impending victory.

"Voldemort killed Robert Patterson!"

I dropped my feet off of the desk. "What?"

" In the movies, Cedric Diggory was played by Robert Patterson." Her smug voice made me wish to smack her, just a little bit.

I had to think for a moment. " That's a good deed."

"Huh?"

"Ridding the world of Patterson, at least for a little while was a good thing to do. And now we know what to do with the sparkly freak."

I could almost feel the confusion that I might have seen on her face. "But did Vader do anything like that?"

"No, and that's why Darth Vader is the better _villain_."

"But...but…"

"Just give up."

"Fine. Darth Vader is the better villain."

"Thank you."

"Now that we have settled our differences, let's return to Bach."

The music continued to be made for a good hour or so. The Bach and Mozart was followed by a few smaller composers. I was having a great time until I had to stop. My music ended when the bell rang, sending its irritating buzz into my mind and shaking the map of the room up by buzzing off of surfaces and disorienting me for a moment. I said good bye to Ms. Manuel and packed up my cello. First, I went back to my room and carefully placed the case against the wall. Then I put the right books in my backpack and lifted the bag over my shoulder. I walked though the quad towards the lunch tables, following the worn stone walkway along the side of the administration building. There were guardians and teachers moving in and out through several doors. All of them at least familiar if not identifiable.

I was walking by one of the doors when footsteps sounded from behind it. The door opened faster than I anticipated. It hit me in the back and caused me to stumble. I would have fallen had not a hand grabbed my shoulder. The quick stop combined with the shock of the fall caused my sunglasses to fall off and me to drop my cane. The hand, a man's hand who I couldn't identify, pulled me back to upright.

"Are you alright?" said the man in a rich Russian accent. His aftershave was unusual and masculine mixed with the leather that he wore, it was a fantastic combination. A Russian Guardian, the Moroi often wore slightly feminine cologne.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Thaks to him. " Can you help me find my stuff?"  
>"it's just right there." He is really tall. His voice was coming from a foot and a half above me. "Why do you need help-"<p>

I think he saw my eyes, I'm told that they are a milky white surrounded by faint scars and they stare off into space, unfocused. A small "oh" escaped his lips then "I'm sorry."

"You are new right?"

"Yes."

"Well, grab my glasses," they were less than two feet away "I get my cane." The handle was against my heel. As I reached down to pick it up I felt the Russian Guardian bend down at the waist and pick up my sunglasses. His body pressed against me for a moment, that was all it took to realize that he had muscles, lots of them and very little fat to cover them up. They felt … nice. I decided that the Russian Guardian was hot. He smelled like leather, had muscles and his accent was knee weakening.

"Sooo… Comrade, what's your name?"

"Dimitri Belikov," he paused for a moment "and you are?"

"Rose Hathaway, what brings you to America, comrade?"

"I have been assigned as Princess Vasilissa Dragomirs' new Guardian. And stop calling me comrade."

"You meet her yet?"

"Well, let's go see your new charge." I started back towards the lunch room. Guardian Belikov followed after a second. His long legs caught up to me in a second and we walked together. When I got to the door , I reached for the handle but Guardian Belikov got there first.

"You don't need to help me out I can function all on my own."

"I'm sure you can, but I was raised to open doors for ladies."

"oh." I stepped inside and smelled the air, listened to the sound of chatter. I found the light, flowery, expensive perfume that Lissa likes and heard her soft voice. I turned towards the table where she sat and began to tap around to try and find the bags that had been left on the ground. I think Belikov was surprised. I sat down next to Lissa and pushed out a chair for Dimitri.

"Sit down comrade." I think Lissa looked away from Christian and saw the tall dhampir standing next to me.

"Hey ,Rose?" Lissa asked, "Who's your friend?"

"My name is Dimitri Belikov, Princess, and I am your new Guardian." He might have bowed to her, I wasn't sure.

VAVAVAVAVA

This might not be a good place to stop but here is where my Muse left me. Maybe with 15 reviews she'll come back. JK. I'll be working on the next chapter soon. And please if you are going to follow or add the story just give a little review. It really helps inspire me to know your thought on my work. Suggestions are welcome, Flames accepted.


	4. Chapter 4

The school day was over. Dinner had been served and eaten. The more studious of us were working in the library or in their dorms. I had finished my homework as had Lissa. Now we were in her room, mine was bland and depressing (or so I was told). We were getting Lissa ready for her date with Christian, or to normal people: preventing Lissa from suffering a complete breakdown over her wardrobe. She was freaking out because she wanted to be hot without being slutty, be classy without looking like a spoiled royal. I was sitting on the bed trying to resist the urge to slap Lissa. I eventually had to break in and stop her when she started calling herself fat.

"Lissa, first you have a small amount of fat on you, much less than I do and about as much as any of the other Moroi girls. And second you could pick almost any outfit from your closet, it's your underwear that matters. We both know you're getting laid today."

"Rose!"

"What? You think I can't smell your arousal wafting through the room."

"Yes! You're not supposed to be able to smell the fact that I'm horny."

"Just pick an outfit and get laid."

"Maybe we should be trying to get you laid?" Lissa said, "Maybe with the new Russian Guardian."

"I'm not going to seduce Dimitri Belikov."

"So you remember his name. He really is hot, you know."

"I had guessed as much."

"How?" Lissa sat on the bed next to me.

"The way he sounds, smells, the fact that his skin feels like a silk cloth pulled over a bar of steel, I had bumped into him and discovered his eight pack."

"You have it bad." Lissa's voice moved back and forth slightly as she shook her head.

"Yeah," I nodded, then leaned back until my back hit the bed. "Least you got Christian to take care of the itch that that damn Russian gives."

"Yeah he's great isn't he? And I don't think that Dimitri has the same effect on me."

"Whatever." I took off my sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "And I didn't say that Christian was great, just that he's good for you."

"'In what way?"

"He provides a good grounding in reality and keeps you from thinking that 'royal' doesn't mean better just entitled and blood bleeds red from everybody, I think."

Lissa lay back and sighed, "He doesn't think so."

"huh?"

"He thinks he's bad for me, that he's holding me back."

"Umm… Lissa, politically and socially he is, the Ozera name is very bad for the Princess Dragomir."

"Why can't he be accepted? He didn't do anything wrong."

"People, especially royals, aren't rational."

"But-"

I broke in before we would get in a debate that would ruin her night. "See that dress it's silk and knee length, wear that."

"What?" said Lissa, successfully distracted.

"That dress still has a faint trace of Christian on it. He liked that dress, he was all over that dress."

"Really, Rose?"

"Did you wear it recently?"

"No."

"Then he'll like the dress"

It took nearly an hour after that to get Lissa into the dress and all prettied up. Then I had to, of course, I had to walk (drag) her over there to keep her from running away. Her anxiety over things like that was insane. The girl can give a speech in front of a couple hundred people as if she was a senior politician, but encounters of a normal variety are out of her comfort zone. It would be funny if I didn't have to deal with it. As I was walking back to my dorm room and my cello, I heard a slight crunching behind me, footsteps in the grass, light and controlled, Guardian. I sighed. Then the scent of aftershave and leather reached me, Dimitri. I called out to him.

"You going to come up here, comrade, or just keep following me like a stalker?"

He stopped for a moment, stunned that I caught him, I think. Then he moved up beside me. Just as last time I was surprised at just how tall he was and how good he smelled.

"Why are you out after curfew?" he asked. He was almost angry, not at me, I don't think, but at himself. I decided to tease him.

"That's not the question you want to ask." That was all I said, trying to seem like I could read his mind.

"Than what is it, the question I want to ask?"

"You want to know how I caught you and how I identified you."

"Yes." He said. I stayed silent, hoping saying nothing would infuriate him further.

"So?" I kept my smirk under control as he started to lose his.

"So?" I mimicked.

He let out a breath. "How did you catch me?"

"You are heavy, and no matter how controlled your footsteps, they will still reflect that weight as they crunch the grass and dirt on the ground, plus you breathe."

"And you identified me like this?"

"No."

"Then how?"

"Your leather jacket."

"My leather jacket. What about my leather jacket?"

"It smells like leather, very few of the school's guardians wear leather."

"So you… guessed?"

I smirked "Nope."

I think he learned his lesson so I decided to walk away and hope he was too confused to remember that I was out past curfew, Kirova had been on my case when Ralf was tied to the flag pole while he slept, he didn't see anything but he fingered me because I had said I would do it. I made the argument that I was blind and would be incapable of performing this task. I had done it, of course, but I wasn't going to get punished if I didn't have to. There are times where being 'handicapped' was a good thing. I never get in trouble, everyone knows I had done it but there is no proof or any way a blind girl could perform the feat required to pull off the prank. I don't mind it's their underestimation of me that keeps me from being expelled. I was getting to be good at making people underestimate me.

As I walked away I called out to Dimitri, I just couldn't resist. "As fun as this back and forth is I have a hot date waiting for me."

I walked back to my dorm room and played through a few songs on my cello before putting it away and falling asleep.

I woke up a mere three hour later as Lissa burst into my room just dying to tell me how her date with Christian had gone. As usual he had been a total gentleman and was just so romantic. I tried not to vomit, listening to Lissa gush was like eating frosting, it might seem like a good idea and taste great but if you ate to much you got sick. Lissa was simply too sweet for her own good, and mine. I really disliked having to wade through her emotional whiplash at what felt like 2 in the morning. I loved the girl but she was way to enthusiastic about everything sunshine and rainbows. I hope that expression works, I have no idea what either looks like other than the meaningless descriptions I get. You ever try explaining color to the blind, it's something I've put everyone through at least once. It is hysterical watching teachers freak out when I ask them about a visual concept. The smarter they think they are the worse the freak out. It's funny to listen to the seeing folk

Lissa stayed in my room and kept me awake for the rest of the night. I was not a happy camper that day and I took it out on the cello. My music was harsher than usual and it was noticed by Ms. Manuel, she might have been the only one but I didn't like how well she was able to read me. I was just a little irritated by everything that day. My math teacher, who refused to understand my different method of solving an equation. The other students tried an old classic, move the desks around and try to confuse the blind girl, it didn't work. And I was too late to get a slice of pizza at lunch. When the schooling was over I was able to finally get away from the other students and fall asleep for the rest of the night. With a good sleep maybe I'll feel better in the morning and things will be better.


End file.
